The Call of Michaelmas – LeadTogether #6, 9-21-14
Dear Colleagues,
In this season of Michaelmas, we have a lot to be grateful for and a lot to stand up for. While we all strive to do our best, to reach for the highest in ourselves and to recognize and support the highest in our colleagues, students and their parents, at the same time we are called to take initiative and pursue the highest in our work in a growing culture of materialistic thinking.
As the educational community endlessly debates the effectiveness of high-stakes, standardized testing at all levels, we move forward with effective individual qualitative assessment for all our students.
As schools buy into founding their curriculum upon, and spending millions of dollars on textbooks, we practice every day the art of living, teacher-led inquiry and real-life experience.
As the nation embraces ever more and more technology in the classroom bumping out the essentials of art, movement, and manual arts, we tread the path of a fully integrated artistic and physical education rich with opportunities for all students.
As the educational process becomes more and more programmed and mechanical, we leave the teachers free and responsible to connect each handcrafted lesson to each individual student.
This education philosophy was in the beginning, and continues to be every day, revolutionary. It is truly an education for the future. It is not old and it never will be. Each day teachers across the globe recreate it and make it new.
The impulse for this comes not from following a curriculum, but from doing the hard work of continually growing and developing ourselves inwardly, socially and in our work.
It is not an idea. It is a path of learning to think with our hearts. It makes perfect sense and yet it is illogical. It works beautifully and yet it is impractical. It is disconnected from much of the educational world and yet deeply connected to the future of humanity. It is simple and profound each day and yet it is complex and difficult. It asks us each day to go further in our imagination, our courage and our sense of responsibility.
May we all be renewed this Michaelmas as we work, as we practice, as we stand in the world for what is good. This is the call of the spirit of Michael. And this is worth celebrating.
Keep in touch,
Michael Soule